Second chance

Thursday, December 10, 2009

STAFF WRITER

Of the 14,000 adults and 1,600 juveniles released each year
from correctional facilities in New Jersey, as many as 65
percent of the adults will be rearrested within five years.
Almost 40 percent of juveniles will return to correctional
facilities within two years.

These high rates of recidivism indicate that more must be
done to give these people a fighting chance to do better
beyond prison walls. The whole concept of prison, after all,
is a place to serve appropriate sentences for crimes. Once
that debt has been paid, former offenders should
theoretically be able to return to society as productive
members. As the statistics show, however, there is only a 1
in 3 chance of that scenario playing out.

To help turn the tide, Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie
Watson Coleman has introduced an array of bills intended not
only to reduce the rate of recidivism but also to save money
through administrative and legislative reforms.

As the mother of two sons who have served time in state
prison, Watson Coleman, D-Mercer, is more qualified than
most to address this issue. But that's not why we favor
her "Second Chance" series of bills; we think they
will bring much-needed improvements to the prison system and
its associated services.

The proposals include allowing former inmates to receive
financial help from state welfare programs, encouraging the
corrections system to place prisoners in facilities close to
their families and seeking ways to maintain bonds between
incarcerated parents and their children. One of the bills
would require inmates to finish high school classes and
receive vocational training.

Other bills would:

"Â¢ Make it easier for released inmates to obtain employment by creating a restricted driver's license and removing restrictions that prevent felons from working for, among other employers, limousine services and places that serve alcohol. Employers also would be barred from discriminating against job applicants on the basis of a criminal record....